Recap

So far in Mathew, we've read through the prologue, the first and second blocks of Jesus' ministry, and started the third block. Matthew opens with a genealogy and the story of Jesus' birth. Both rooted Jesus in Old Testament prophecy and allusions. He's a descendant of David born through the Holy Spirit. A king and the son of God. He's given gifts from wise men that match what was given to Solomon's temple. He is God's presence on earth. He is brought out of Egypt as a new Israel.

Then came the first block of Jesus' ministry. This involved the initial preparation, demonstrations, and then teaching. Jesus was baptised and affirmed by God. He went into the desert for forty days and resisted temptation, succeeding where the Israelites before him failed. After leaving the desert and choosing his first disciples, Jesus declared the kingdom of God is at hand. He showed it by healing the sick and casting out demons, then explained it in the Sermon on the mount. Just as Moses went up Mount Sinai to bring back the law, Jesus is going up a mountain to unpack the law of the kingdom of heaven.

He started with the Beatitudes, showing the upside down nature of the kingdom of heaven. He pointed out how the law focused on outward behaviour, but it is our inward heart that shapes us. Jesus challenged how people outwork their faith, telling them when they give, pray, and fast they shouldn't do it to show off. Our focus should be on God's kingdom, not power, money, or even providing for ourselves. When it comes to others, we're called to look inward before we judge others. To treat others how you would like to be treated. Judge others by their fruit, not by what they say. But judge ourselves by our relationship with God.

Then came the second block of Jesus' ministry, the kingdom of heaven, applied to people's lives. We read a total of ten miracles, mostly focused on people who were outcasts and those far from God. The kingdom of heaven brought them healing and freedom. The teaching of this second block then focused around how the disciples would bring the kingdom of heaven to others. The cost would be high. They would be persecuted and reviled. But if they trusted in God, he would give them the authority they need.

This led to the third block of Jesus' ministry, focused on the response. Jesus’ own cousin, John the Baptist, begin to doubt whether he really was the messiah. Then we had the pharisees accuse and challenge Jesus, even after he performed miracles directly in front of them.

Matthew 13-14

Jesus spends his third block of teaching, teaching the people in parables. Stories with a theological point. In Matthew 13 alone, there are eight different parables. The first parable is of a man who went out casting seeds. The seeds that landed on the path, the rocky ground, or by the thorns all failed to grow for various reasons. But the seeds that landed on good soil grew well and produced a lot of grain.

The disciples pull Jesus to one side and ask him why he's teaching in parables. Why not just say what he wants clearly and in a way that's easy to understand? Jesus gives a strange answer. So the people won't understand. He then quotes from Isaiah 6:9-10, when Isaiah was given the job of prophet and was told to speak to the people in a way they won't understand.

But why? Why talk to the people in a way they won't understand? Well, there are a number of reason. As with most things, if you just give someone an answer to the problem, they might now have the answer but they still don't understand it. When someone works out the answer for themselves, they always have a much better understanding of what it is they've learnt. So getting people to wrestle through parables themselves will actually make people understand better.

Then there are others who, if told directly what they needed to do, would tick all the boxes in their behaviour, but they would never do the work of addressing the problems in their heart. And so, like the Pharisees, would have it all sorted on the outside, but inside would still be as broken and messed up as before. There's reward in the wrestling.

But the other reason to use parables is it filters out people that were already against you. There are those that don't like Jesus who would go out of their way to mess up Jesus' plans. But when he speaks in parables, these same people can't be bothered to work out what they mean. So then they don't know what he's planning or how to attack him. These particular parables were critiquing the Pharisees' reaction to Jesus’ ministry, so subtlety was required.

Because his disciples have already shown a willingness to put the work in, Jesus decides to explain to them this particular parable. The seed is the kingdom of heaven. For some people, it will fall on death ears and won't make any impact. For others, they'll accept the kingdom of heaven, but fail to put down any roots and get stuck in. Then, when things get difficult, they give up.

Then there are those that accept the kingdom of heaven but then get distracted by the worries of life and fall away. And finally, there are those who hear about the kingdom and accept it fully, putting down good roots. These people will bear a lot of fruit and will have lives radically changed for God.

This parable has two sides. One, be the good soil. Make sure you hear God's word and put down good roots. But also, two, when you're sharing the kingdom of heaven, don't get disheartened by all the people that don't listen or don't stick it out. Keep going. Because eventually you'll find someone who does take it on properly, and seeing the change in their life will make it all worth it. I'll leave you to wrestle through the other seven parables yourself.

As if to punctuate the end of this block of teaching, Jesus returns to his hometown only to be rejected by the people there.They were unwilling to learn from Jesus because many of them had watched him grow up.

This brings us to the end of the third block of Jesus’ ministry and leads us to the fourth block. This block begins to expand Jesus’ ministry and reveal more of who he is, challenging the expectations people have.

Jesus' fame was growing, and he caught the attention of king Herod (not the same king Herod from when Jesus was a baby. This is that Herod's son). Herod assumed that this was John the Baptist returned from the dead, because Herod had had him killed earlier.

John had been put in prison for telling Herod not to sleep with his brother's wife, Herodias. Herod then had a party for his birthday, where he got Herodias' daughter to do some provocative dancing for his party guests. When she had finished, he offered her whatever she wanted, and her mother told her to ask for John the Baptist's head on a plate. So John was killed and his head brought out for Herodias and her daughter.

Hearing about this, Jesus went away to spend time by himself. But many people saw him leaving by boat and ran around the edge of the coast (the sea of Galilee isn't that big) so they could meet him on the other side.

As time went by, the people got hungry. Jesus tells his disciples to feed all the people, but they have no idea how they're going to feed so many. So Jesus has them all sit down, takes the little food they have, and begins to pass it around.

The food miraculously begins to multiply, and by the time everyone had eaten, they had more food than they began with. This story is meant to remind you of the time that Moses called manna from heaven to feed the Israelites in the wilderness. Jesus is the new Moses, come to set free his people and take care of them.

Jesus sets his disciples off on the boat, while he sent everyone home and spent some time on his own praying. Then after it got dark, Jesus walked out across the water to join them. The disciples are immediately terrified and yell "it's a ghost".

As we noted with Mark, in Greco-Roman mythology there was one thing that ghosts couldn't do, and that's touch water. So there's no way Jesus could be a ghost. But there were characters in these Greco-Romans myths that could walk on water. The gods. So if you imagine this as a film, at this point the original audience is screaming at the screen, "he's not a ghost you idiots, he's a god!"

But Matthew takes this one step further. Jesus then encourages his disciples, saying, "Take heart; it is I." (Matthew 14:27). Again, it's not as clear to us in the English, but the 'it is I' is the same phrase God used when he revealed himself to Moses in Exodus 3:14. Matthew is using this as an opportunity to highlight Jesus' divinity. This is why once Jesus had got in the boat (after Peter trying out walking on the water) it says that the disciples worshipped him. The only person worthy of worship is God.

Eventually, they get over to the other side of the Galilee, back to the Gentile land where Jesus had cast the demons into the pigs. As soon as the people there recognised him, they brought all their sick and Jesus healed them all.

So far, in this fourth section, we’ve learnt that Jesus is a new Moses and that he is divine. The son of God, come not just for the Jews but for all humanity.

Psalm 93

This psalm isn’t attributed to anyone and falls into the category of praise psalms. It’s part of a short collection of psalms (Psalm 93-99) that focus on God as king.

Psalm 93:1-2 - God’s throne and reign

Psalm 93:3-4 - God is mightier than the waters

Psalm 93:5 - God’s house is holy and trustworthy

The psalmist starts by asserting God's reigns. He is robed like a king. All the world has been established by him, and he sits upon an eternal throne.

The psalmist then asserts God’s authority over the chaotic water. The floods of chaos and the mighty seas rage. But God is mightier than them all.

Finally, the psalmist focuses on what God has established. His decrees are trustworthy, and his house, where all should seek to dwell, is holy.

The psalm is short and sweet. God is king over all who brings stability and confidence with his reign.